Monday

Classical theism roundup

Classical theism is the conception of God that has prevailed historically within Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Western philosophical theism generally. Its religious roots are biblical, and its philosophical roots are to be found in the Neoplatonic and Aristotelian traditions. Among philosophers it is represented by the likes of Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Maimonides, and Avicenna. I have emphasized many times that you cannot properly understand the arguments for God’s existence put forward by classical theists, or their conception of the relationship between God and the world and between religion and morality, without an understanding of how radically classical theism differs from the “theistic personalism” or “neo-theism” that prevails among some prominent contemporary philosophers of religion. (Brian Davies classifies Richard Swinburne, Alvin Plantinga, and Charles Hartshorne as theistic personalists. “Open theism” would be another species of the genus, and I have argued that Paley-style “design arguments” have at least a tendency in the theistic personalist direction.)

For discussion of various other specific issues that arise in discussions of classical theism, such as questions about the nature of divine causality, the relation of abstract objects to God, the divine attributes, and so forth, see:

Also relevant to such topics is the treatment of the metaphysical issues underling classical theism I presented in a lecture at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in December 2011, which you can watch on YouTube:

For discussion of the differences between classical theism on the one hand, and the conception of God often operative in Paley-style “design arguments” and “Intelligent Design” theory on the other, see: